Men’s volleyball sophomore Layne Dreven hit a career-high .727against Ball State with eight kills, no errors and 11 attempts. Headded six assist blocks and a dig in the 3-0 win over theCardinals. Dreven hit .647 in the 3-1 win over Quincy, recording acareer-high 13 kills against the Hawks. He contributed five totalblocks against Quincy with a solo and four assists. For the twomatches, Dreven hit .679 (21-2-38) and averaged 3.00 kills pergame. He was the team leader in blocks with 11 (one solo and 10assists) for a 1.57 per game average. Women’s golfer Kristen Whiteearned the Big Ten’s first honor of the 2005 season, as she wasnamed the league’s player of the week. White finished third at the10th annual Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge this week in PalosVerdes, Calif. White, ranked 23rd in the nation byGolfweek/Sagarin, posted rounds of 76-73-71 to finish with a finalscore of 220 (+7) at the event. The award is the fourth career forWhite, who last earned the honor in February of last year.

Athletics Good Stuff

The men’s and women’s track and field teams participated in the14th annual Iowa State Classic last weekend in Ames, Iowa.Highlighting the day for the men’s team was junior distance runnerBrian Olinger, while sophomore sprinter Jenna Harris led the wayfor the women’s squad. Harris claimed top honors in the 60-meterdash Saturday with a 7.42 after taking runner-up in the 200m in24.16 during day one competition. Olinger set the Ohio State recorden route to winning the men’s 5,000-meter run Friday evening in atime of 13:54.34.

Also posting strong performances for the men was Jacob McCauley, who timed a season-best 4:10.55 in the mile, and Bryan Duby, who finished fifth in the weight throw with a toss of 66 feet, 6 1/2 inches (66-6 1/2).

Additionally for the women, Ohio State received provisional qualifiers from Shelaine Larson in the weight, who finished third with a heave of 62-3. Rosalind Goodwin notched a provisional mark, taking third in the long jump at 20-2 1/4, while Shayla Moore posted a leap 41-6 1/2 to take fourth in the triple jump.

This week, Ohio State closes out the regular season at home. The Buckeyes welcome competing teams to the 2005 Scarlet and Gray Invitational at 10 a.m. Saturday in French Field House.

Freshman Karley Walek claimed her first all-around crown with ascore of 39.000 to propel the No. 23 women’s gymnastics team overPittsburgh, 195.225-191.550, Saturday in St. John Arena. TheBuckeyes’ point total is their highest of the 2005 season.

Ohio State claimed every event with scores of 49.175 on both vault and floor, a 48.750 on beam and a 48.125 on bars.

Walek (Pequannock, N.J./Pequannock) finished the evening placing first on vault with a score of 9.900, fifth on floor with a mark of 9.825 and sixth on both bars (9.650) and beam (9.625). Senior Liz Meaney (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood) contributed to the Buckeye rotation with a first-place finish on bars with a mark of 9.800.

Freshman Maalika Moore-Thomas (Tampa, Fla./King) and junior Brittany Brown (Wheaton, Md./God Counsel) completed the Buckeye sweep of individual crowns placing first on beam and floor. Moore-Thomas took first place on beam with a score of 9.825, while Brown placed first on floor with a score of 9.875.

The men’s basketball team improved to 18-8 overall and 7-5 inthe Big Ten with a 57-44 win over Indiana Tuesday. The win givesthe Buckeyes the most victories since the 2001-02 campaign whenOhio State shared the Big Ten regular season title and won theleague’s postseason tournament championship with a 24-8 record. The2004-05 win total also is the second most for a first-year Buckeyehead coach. Gary Williams owns the top spot with 20 wins in hisinaugural season in Columbus in 1987. The Buckeyes have fourregular-season games remaining and at least one contest in the 2005Big Ten Tournament. With two more wins this year, the Buckeyeswould secure a 20-wins season for the 20th time in history.Minnesota will play host to the Buckeyes at 5 p.m. Saturday inMinneapolis. The game will be televised by ESPN Regional and shownlocally on WBNS 10 TV. The women’s ice hockey team dropped atwo-game road series against No. 4 Wisconsin in Madison, Wis., lastweekend. OSU fell, 6-3, Friday and, 7-2, Saturday. Junior JanaHarrigan set the Ohio State single-season points record as shetallied her 44th and 45th points this season in game two vs.Wisconsin. Following her three assist weekend, Harrigan extendedher point streak to 14 games this season. During her stretchHarrigan has posted five goals and 16 assists for 21 points.

Ohio State completes its eight-game road stretch when the Buckeyes travel to face College Hockey America foe Niagara at 7 p.m. EST Feb. 18-19 in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The Buckeyes and Purple Eagles will be meeting for the first time in Niagara Falls and the second series between the teams. Last season, Ohio State swept Niagara in a two-game home series Nov. 29-30, 2003.

Women’s tennis sophomore Sonia Ruzimovsky (Brooklyn,N.Y./Brooklyn Tech) continued to lead the Buckeyes as they facedWilliam and Mary and Georgia Tech last weekend. Against the Tribe,Ruzimovsky earned the lone Buckeye victory by downing Lingda Yang,6-3, 6-4, at No. 6. In singles against the Yellow Jackets,Ruzimovsky improved to 5-0 on the spring season by defeatingWhitney McCray, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (6), at the No. 5 position. Alsowinning for the Buckeyes was Anna Volberg (Soph., Toledo, Ohio/St.Ursula), who beat Dasha Potapova, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 3.

Ohio State returns to action Saturday when they play host to Auburn at 4 p.m. at Jesse Owens West Tennis Center.

The wrestling team (7-11, 0-7 Big Ten) faced another toughweekend slate with road bouts at No. 5 Michigan and No. 7Minnesota. Friday, Ohio State suffered a 32-6 defeat in Ann Arbor,Mich. The Buckeyes recorded a pair of wins in the dual. FreshmanT.J. Enright scored victory No. 27 at 133, while Alex Picazonotched his first Big Ten triumph at 184.

Sunday, Enright again led the Buckeyes with an upset over the No. 3-ranked wrestler in the country. Enright scored a decisive takedown 20 seconds in to overtime for a 5-3 sudden victory over UM’s Mack Rieter, who had not lost since Dec. 29.

Overall, the Buckeyes won five matches against the Golden Gophers, including a second win on the weekend by Piczao and a decision by No. 4-ranked J.D. Bergman at 197 pounds.

Ohio State concludes the regular season with a dual at No. 18 Penn State at 7 :30 p.m. Friday. The match will be broadcast live by Fox Sports/ Pittsburgh and on tape delay on College Sports Television.

The No. 2 men’s gymnastics team tallied a 215.350 to topCalifornia and Stanford at the Nakamori Invitational Feb. 12 atHaas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif.

Four Buckeyes captured four of the six events with sophomore Grant Osborne (Fort Collins, Colo./USOTC) leading the way with a first-place finish on pommel horse (9.4) and a third-place tie on floor (9.075). Willie Ito (So., Huntington Beach, Calif./South Coast Gym.) notched a 9.65 to claim high bar. The freshman duo of Jimmy Wickham (Gulfport, Miss./Planet Gym.) and Pejman Ebrahimi (Granada Hills, Calif./LeClub Gym.) compiled a 9.5 and a 9.550 on vault and parallel bars, respectively to finish first and tied for first.

Ohio State returns home when it faces No. 11 Nebraska at 7 p.m. Friday at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

No. 12-ranked men’s volleyball (9-2 overall, 3-0 MIVA) won homematches over Ball State, 3-0 (30-19, 30-21, 30-22) and Quincy, 3-1(26-30, 30-16, 30-26, 30-25) last weekend. Andy Cole had amatch-high 15 points against Ball State with 12 kills (.611) whileMark Greaves added 14 points and Layne Dreven, 11. Dreven hit acareer-high .727 with eight kills, no errors in 11 attempts.Against Quincy, Cole had a team-high 18 points with Greavescontributing 17.5, Dreven, 14, and Mike Wauligman 14. The win washead coach Pete Hanson’s 400th victory at Ohio State. The Buckeyeshave won 13 consecutive MIVA regular season conference matches and10 consecutive home MIVA regular season matches. OSU has won itslast 18 regular season home matches. The No. 14 men’s lacrosse teamopens the 2005 schedule with a game against No. 21 Penn StateSaturday in State College, Pa. The Buckeyes are the defending GreatWestern Lacrosse League champions, after posting a perfect 5-0record in conference action last season. The squad opens its homeslate with a game against 2004 NCAA runner-up Navy at noon Feb. 26.The No. 7 men’s hockey team posted a two-game sweep of BowlingGreen at home last weekend with a pair of 3-2 victories. SophomoreMatt Beaudoin led the Buckeyes with three goals in the series,while freshman Kyle Hood had a goal and two assists. The seriessweep clinched at least second place for the Buckeyes in the finalCCHA regular-season standings and gave OSU the Ohio Cup trophy forthe first time since 2003.

Ohio State, who remains one point behind first-place Michigan in the CCHA standings, travels to face Michigan State this weekend. The teams will meet at 7:35 p.m. Friday and at 7:05 p.m. Saturday in East Lansing, Mich.

The No. 17 men’s tennis team fell, 6-1, to fourth-rankedGeorgia Sunday in Athens, Ga. With the loss, the Buckeyes fell to3-3 this season and the Bulldogs improved to 4-0. Ohio State splitweekend action against Southeastern Conference foes, as it defeatedNo. 19 Arkansas, 5-2, Feb. 11 in Columbus. Against Georgia,sophomore Devin Mullings captured the lone point in singles for theBuckeyes. Ohio State returns to action Thursday-Sunday at theNational Team Indoor Championships in Chicago. Ohio State receiveda team bid to the championship for the first time in programhistory. The 16-team field includes defending national championBaylor, Big Ten foe Illinois, Boise State, Duke, Florida, Georgia,Harvard, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Oklahoma State,Southern California, Stanford, UCLA and Virginia. The Buckeyes areback at home Feb. 25 against Virginia Commonwealth. Ryan Kohatsufinished first in air rifle at 584 and second in smallbore rifle at586 in the NCAA Qualifier held last weekend at Xavier University.OSU’s Linnea Nygren finished eighth in smallbore rifle at 572.Teams and individuals that qualify for the NCAA Championship willbe announced at a later date. The NCAA Championship will be heldMarch 10-12 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in ColoradoSprings, Colo. Ohio State will next compete at the WesternIntercollegiate Rifle Conference Championships, March 26, at PurdueUniversity. The No. 2/3 women’s basketball team (24-2; 11-1 BigTen) plays host to No. 14/14 Minnesota (19-5; 9-3 Big Ten) at 8p.m. EST Thursday at Value City Arena. The Golden Gophers made anappearance in the 2004 Final Four. It is the second-to-last homegame for the Buckeyes, who are on a 13-game win streak and recentlytallied a 67-60 win at Iowa Sunday. Jessica Davenport led OhioState with 21 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots vs. theHawkeyes. Caity Matter chipped in 18 points off a 4-of-7 strokefrom the 3-point line and Kim Wilburn tallied eight steals anddished six helpers. Women’s golfer Kristen White earned the BigTen’s first honor of the 2005 season. White finished third at the10th annual Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge this week in PalosVerdes, Calif. White, ranked 23rd in the nation byGolfweek/Sagarin, posted rounds of 76-73-71 to finish with a finalscore of 220 (+7) at the event. She helped the Buckeyes to aneighth-place finish in their first tournament of the spring season.The award is the fourth career for White, who last earned the honorin February of last year. The Buckeyes return to action Feb. 21-22at the Central District Invitational in Parrish, Fla. Thesynchronized swimming team picked up a 76-64 win over Richmond Feb.12 in Richmond, Va. Ohio State juniors Carly Grimshaw and ChelseaLuker helped the Buckeyes win three wins in duet, trio and team.Grimshaw and Luker paired up to take first place in duet with ascore of 92.167. Senior Lauren Marsh, Grimshaw and Luker claimedfirst-place honors in trio with a mark of 91.667. Sophomore BeckyKim and senior Lindsay Newbill finished second in duet with a scoreof 89.167 while Kim, Newbill and sophomore Ellen Hacker placedsecond in the trio event. The Ohio State squad also took homefirst-place honors in the team event. Swimming for the Buckeyes wasHeather Burdick, Grimshaw, Hacker, Kim, Luker, Marsh, Newbill andAshley Rule. The synchronized swimming team will be honored athalftime of the women’s basketball game against Minnesota (8 p.m.)Thursday night for winning its fifth-consecutive nationalchampionship in 2004. The Buckeyes return to action at the Maize& Blue Invitational Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. The softballteam gets the 2005 season underway this weekend as the Buckeyestravel to Boca Raton, Fla., for the Florida Atlantic UniversityWorth Invitational. Ninth-year Ohio State head coach LindaKalafatis and 14 returning letterwinners are out to build on lastseason’s 35-25 overall record and trip to the NCAA Regionaltournament in Tallahassee, Fla.

The trip to Boca Raton marks the first of three consecutive weekend trips for the Buckeyes to start the 2005 season. Ohio State will travel to Palm Springs, Calif., Feb. 25-27 followed by a trip to Atlanta, Ga., March 3-6.

Fencers Adam Crompton and Jason Paul won their respective saberdivisions at the North American Cup Championships, Jan. 14-17 inKansas City. Crompton won his title in Div. I men’s saber, whilePaul was the Junior men’s saber champion.

Five other Buckeyes placed in the Top 10 of their divisions. Christian Rivera had a pair of Top 10 finishes, placing second in Junior men’s epee and ninth in Div. 1 men’s epee. Two fencers tied for third in their divisions, including Boaz Ellis in Div. 1 men’s foil and Amelia Gaillard in Div. 1 women’s saber. One other Buckeye had a Top 5 finish as Hanna Thompson placed fifth in Div. 1 women’s foil. In women’s saber, Eileen Grench placed ninth in the Junior division and 15th in the Div. 1 competition.